It's very touching when the President introduces Safia Taleb al-Suhail:

bush-- One of Iraq's leading democracy and human rights advocates is Safia Taleb al-Suhail. She says of her country, "we were occupied for 35 years by Saddam Hussein. That was the real occupation. 'Thank you to the American people who paid the cost' but most of all to the soldiers." Eleven years ago, Safia's father was assassinated by Saddam's intelligence service. Three days ago in Baghdad, Safia was finally able to vote for the leaders of her country - and we are honored that she is with us tonight. --endbush

She stands and holds her fingers up in the peace/victory sign, then rotates it around into a single index finger, the inkable voter's Finger of Democracy. Later, Bush introduces the parents of Marine Corps Sergeant Byron Norwood, who was killed in Iraq. Norwood's mother, Janet, is standing right behind al-Suhail and, at one point, the Iraqi woman turns around and embraces the American woman. The embrace goes on for a long time, and we imagine al-Suhail is thanking Janet Norwood for what her son gave to the Iraqi people. This long, symbolic embrace leaves a deep impression, beyond any words in the speech.

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today the news says:

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"When we came back from exile, we thought we were going to improve rights and the position of women. But look what has happened -- we have lost all the gains we made over the last 30 years. It's a big disappointment."Safia Taleb al-SouhailIraq's ambassador to EgyptReuters interviewAugust 24, 2005

This one made me laugh out loud. I used to work in a gourmet food shop and many of our customers were older Germans. I wouldn't call them stupid necessarily, but god love 'em, they were a pain in the ass to wait on. They tended to be perfectly nice and pleasant until we were out of something they wanted, or their meat wasn't sliced just right. Then it was like the furies unleashed.

When I was being cross-culturally sensitized, I was told that Americans would stop in front of a natural wonder and try to photograph it either with no one in the foreground, or with their pervert wagon (Winnebago). Japanese would spill out of a tour bus and line up in front of the attraction, so that the picture had faint pink lineaments, say, showing that the Grand Canyon lay behind the crowd. Germans would ask to photograph your gun.

You were in a pretty good mood that day, "Yo, Tony." It was kind of the guard to explain Germans to you too, well, I guess that's their secondary job. Not saying he wasn't right about this particular German whacking some poor artisit painting like that.

Pox! That I could'st but sketchO! Dreams a'many on souls I'd etchbut alas! n'er a pretty penny to fetchempowering lust's dreams like a vile wretchnaught but scribbled nudes, the feast of a letch-Lonely Donut Man